F 549 
, .S7 R3 

Copy 1 



r 



I^aisii}? tl?e Stars ai^d Stripes 



OVER THE 



Lincoln Homestead, 



SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS. 



OOTOBER 16. 1553. 



>r-KiN(;Kii:Li): 
. ) II. () I . n R n A' I ) 



V-. 



k^ 



s'^ 



%-i> 



^4 ^^^ 




IJNCOLN. 



f'lprnVhtod hj 
^> ■ " . O L n R <> V 






rt 



^iOGolQ ^omestead trustees: 



Auditor. Ciiaki.i:.s W. Pax . 
Trcasuixi ■ ChAKLES BecK i 

icndent Public Instruction, Richard Edwards. 

C. \V. I secretary. 



1'' Till'. 

GRAND ARMY 

OF 
N(JBLE MEN ANl' 

' pon land and sea, in battle's strife, hospital's walls. 

prison cells or lonely homes, gave life, 

limb, heart's blood, time, 

toil and money 

TO 

Perpetuate universal freedom, extend the Brother 
hood of men, to keep the Union intact 
and our glorious flag" unstained, 
this little Souveni' 

\:i •pi.i • I I \' I »i.' I 



prefa 



ce 



THE homestead of Abraham Liiicohi was presented to 
the State of lUinois by Robert T. Lincohi, July S, 
1887. The Thhtj^-Sixth General x\ssembly created a 
Board of Trustees, consisting of the Governor, Secretary 
of State, Auditor, Treasurer and Superintendent of Pub- 
lic Instruction, and their successors in office, who shall 
• ave power to keep in good repair and free of access to 
ae public, imder such regulations as they may deem 
v\ ise for the proper preservation of the property. I was 
-^^lected by the Board of Trustees as Custodian, August 
...♦, 1887. The present Trustees have been very liberal 
the judicious expenditiue of monej' in beautifjang the 
irroundings of this old historic home, until it is a place 
^ beauty. The house is in good condition and exactly 
-< Mr. Lincoln left it in 1861, with the exception of 
'cti:)ering and painting. It was my desire to have the 
-tars and stripes floating over the home on all public 
■evasions, and when the wish was made public. Comrade 
W ni. H. Sammons, a member of Mendell Post, No. 150, 
(t. a. R., of this city, and who served in Co. I, 17th 111. 
Cav., proffered a pole, which was accepted. It is a Ijeau- 
ful staff, seventy -two feet high. George A. Sand^n-s, 
ivsq., of this city, presented the flag, which is sixtceMi 
■et in length and bears forty-two stars. The occasion 
a[K>ii which this flag was raised was the 15th Annual 
Reunion of the Illinois Ass(jciation of Ex-Prisoners < \' 



18 s(>rvj::Mi;. 

War, of whic'li (ieii. C. W. Pavey i> rivsKicnt. on ihr 
16th of October, 1889. It seems to me to have been a 
very appropriate time for the old soldiers to raise tliis 
flag over the home of their former Commander-in-Chief. 
At 2 p. M., on the 16th, J. L. Crane, Camp No. 4, Sons of 
Veterans, followed by Stevenson Post, No. 30, and Men- 
dell Post. No. t-)(>. (i. A. R., preceded by a brass band, 
marched from the Gr. A. R. Hall to the Leland Hotel, 
where about two hundred Ex-Prisoners of War joined 
the procession and marched to the lawn in the rear of 
the homestead, where the ex-prisoners formed a hollow 
square around the flag-staff. Mr. George A. Sanders 
made the ijresentation speech, and Governor Fifer accept- 
ing the flag in l^ehalf of the Trustees of the homestead. 
At|the close of the remarks. Miss Daisy Oldroyd and 
Miss Effie Sanders drew the flag slowly to the head of 
its staff, while the band played the "Star Spangled 
Banner." As the flag reached the top, three rousing 
cheers were given by the bo3'S who had fought to make 
that flag free. The band then played " America," while 
the ladies of Stephenson Relief Corps, No. 17, and Men- 
dell W^ Oman's Relief Corps, No. 89, pinned button-hole 
boquets on the Ex-Prisoners, meml^ers of the G. A. R. and 
Sons of Veterans. This closing the exercises at the 
Home, the procession re-formed, marched around the 
public square to the State House. 

" 'Neath this flag was our liljerty ])orn. 
And our nation to greatness has grown : 

For our Ijaiiner on land and at sea 
Is the Star Spangled Banner alone." 

L3^'COL^- HcntEsTF.AD. O. H. OldROYI'. 



f 

I- 



#Q TDAISE over the home ' ln. 

-^^ To bathe in the siifisbuic's flood , 
The flag, made sacred for rvcnnore 
By baptism in his blooj ' 
ive to the wind's caressing, 
To grandly and prondly wave. 
The flag he cleansed from the stigma foul 
Of floating o'er land of the 



Lift high over the home of Lin(:oln 

The blue as summer's sky bright. 
The stripe as crimson as morning's blii^h 

The stars rivaling those of night : 
Lift high over home of the martyr 

The banner— his hope and pride - 
The flag of a Union unbroken,. 

Of his prayers and for which he died. 



Give to the nation's worship 

The red, thewhfte and the blue— 
The emblem that tells of Freedom, 

Ever guarded by hearts tried and '^"^ 
That drooped over Liberty s altar 

When the red sea of blood thundered loud; 
That wrapped him- an offering pri(''l''« - 

IVith its starry folds for a shron 

Up! up! with the banner stainless! 

No better place could be found, 
For the home of the slain, the sainted, 

Has now become holy ground ; 
And looking down on it from Heaven-^ j 

Lilies of Peace hiding battle scars— \ 

His blessing will halo with glory J 

Each flashing of stripes and stars! 
Vyashingtou. D. C. — Wm. H. BusHNELL. (^% 




HON. aEORGE A. SANDERS, 

\\ Presenting a Flag to the Lincoln Homestead, 
October 16th, 1889. 



P?^0 his Excellency, the Governor, Meni- 
V£y bers of the Association of the surviving 
prisoners of the last war. Ladies and 
Gentlemen : 

We have met this afternoon, to perform a 
very simple act, that of raising the banner 
of our country on this staff, which has been 
prepared for that purpose, and ; presented by 
a noble soldier of the last war, over the home 

of Ahrnlinni Lnu^oln where ht^ 1ivpr! Viefcrp 



the comiiieiiceiiieut of the last war. A name 
that all will revere and honor; a statesman, 
a legislator and a President of the United 
States, the greatest that the Republic has 
known. 
The flag itself is always beautiful to look 
upon, and especially so to those who have 
given ^ their services and part of their life in 
its defense. We all honor it for the princi- 
ples it signifies, and while this act is so 
simple, yet it is not insignificant. There is 
not a patriotic heart in the Republic that 
will not be touched b}^ the fact of the raising 
oi this flag ov^er the home of Abraham Lin- 
coln. I may say further, that there is not a 
heart that 4>oes not love the principles that 
flag signifies ; there is not a citizen in the 
republics of the w^orld who is in favor of 
free conscience, of individual expression of 
thought; of a government in favor of the 
people, by the people and for the people, who 



\vill not be touched by this act that we are 
now performing this afternoon, of raising the 

tars arid stripes over the home formerly 
occupied by Abraham Lincoln. 

The flag itself is beautiful to look upon 
hat it symbolizes. As we raise it over 

ur heads ever}^ heart feels grateful for the 
power, for the beneficent government, for the 
principles that it symbolizes, under which 
•.ve live, and especially those men in whose 
presence I now stand; men who suffered in 
prison; men who looked anxiously through 
the bars for long days, long weeks and long 
years, to see this glorious flag unfold itself. 
These men, who have fought on hundreds 

f battle fields; men who have^seen the flag 
.dvance and seen it fall; men who spent the 
■ est energies of their lives in the lasj: war 

n its defense, can appreciate the flag in a 
vay that none other can. It symbolizes and 
'.leans to them vastly more than to any or- 



IS - \KXJk. 

dinary citizen of the Republic, however 
patriotic that citizen may be. We may 
have our sentiments and feelings and our 
emotions with regard to the flag, but you 
have experienced them on the battle-field, 
and I cannot say anything that will add 
one word to your reverence, your affection 
and your honor for it. No language, gen- 
tlemen, is sufficient to portray to you what 
you have experienced in its defense. 
. I have only one word further to say about 
this flag, which, perhaps, is personal, and 
which I trust you will pardon under the 
circumstances. IM}^ only son, a '' little over 
twenty years old, was drowned a year ago last 
July, in the Sangamon river. He became very 
much interested in the campaign that was 
then going on and in the questions involved. 
He joined a club in this city, was present 
when his Excellency, the Governor, opened 
the campaign in this State, in our Opera 



House. He wanted a flag to place over our 
home and take into the campaign when he 
could have occasion to do so, and I com- 
missioned him to get this flag. It was used 
once only, and then over the State Union 
League at one of their meetings at the Le- 
land Hotel; and when I saw through the 
papers that the worthy soldier who fought 
in defense of the Republic had presented 
this staff for a flag, I thought the best thing 
I could do with the flag my boy procured 
was to give it for this occasion. I therefore 
present it to the Homestead with a feeling 
of gratitude, which I know you all feel with 
me, to Almighty God that we are permitted 
in this great Empire State of Illinois to 
enjoy all the liberty, all the privileges, all 
the power and all the benefits that flag can 
confer upon a free people, as w^ell as all over 
the united Republic where it now weaves, 
and in that feeling. I tender it to be used 
for this purpose over this Homestead. 



KDDRESS Oi= 



Goveraof JOSEPH W. FIFER. 



Mr. Chairman, Comrades, LadiEvS and 
Gentlemen : 

In 1887, the Honorable Robert T. Lincoln, 
who inherited this property from his honored 
father, gave it to the State of Illinois, with the 
understanding that the State should keep it in 
repair and use it as a memorial hall. The 
Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor, Treas- 
urer and Superintendent of Public Instruction, 
are the Trustees, charged with the proper 
management and control of the property. 



() shorn H. Oldroyd has been in charge here 
as cnstodian nnder the Trnstees since Angnst, 
1887, and I realize that it ninst be a sonrce of 
^Teat satisfaction, not only to the people of our 
own great State, but likewise to the people 
throughout the countr}' generall}^ to know 
that this hallowed' spot has been, and is being, 
cared for in a way that is creditable to the 
people of that State in which the remains of 
our martyred dead now repose. 

Heretofore it has been difficult for strangers 
who visit our city to locate this spot, and it is 
therefore deemed proper at this time and upon 
this occasion, the annual meeting of the Ex- 
Prisoners of War, to raise this staff to mark 
the place that was once the home of Abraham 
Lincoln. From this staff shall float hereafter 
this beautiful banner, the flag of our country, 
whicli in behalf of the Trustees and the people^ 
I accept from its generous and patriotic donor 
in the presence of these comrades, veterans 



who have been saved to us b}^ an overruling 
providence from the prison pens of the South, 
where pestilence and famine stalked abroad at 
noon-day, and who have been permitted to live 
long enough to see their country re-united, 
happy and prosperous. That they may all 
meet in many more annual re-unions, and live 
many years to enjoy the blessings of that 
liberty their valor defended, I know is the 
prayer of us all. 

My friend who has preceded me has spoken 
fittingly and feelingl\^ of the virtues of that 
great man w^hose memory we honor to-day, 
and, without flattery to him, I do not hope to 
improve on anything he has said. It is with 
diffidence that I, in this presence, speak of the 
life and character of Abraham Lincoln. You, 
his old neighbors and friends, knew him face 
to face, knew him better than vv^as ever my 
pleasure to know him. In my humble judg- 
ment he was the greatest man of this century. 



SOrVEMR. ?S 

and I only wish I had the ability to pay a 
fitting tribute to his virtues. I know it is 
often said of this man or the other, he was a 
great soldier, statesman, lawyer or jurist, but 
I know of nothing better that can be said over 
the grave of any man than this which is 
strictly true of Mr. Lincoln. He lived a long, 
laborious, a patriotic and a heroic life. He 
hated wrong and injustice in all seasons and 
in all places. He fairly loathed the institu- 
tion of slavery, and it finally became his 
pleasing task to wipe that foul blot from our 
nation's honor. Without powerful and influ- 
ential friends to push him forward or back, 
into whose arms he could fall in case he proved 
a failure, he stepped forth when a young man 
from his father's log cabin, took off his coat, 
rolled up his sleeves, looked the world 
squarel}' in the face and began the great 
battle of life, and let the millions who pro- 
nonnce his name with reverence to-day answer 



M SOUVENIR. 

how well he succeeded. I am glad that he 
was the product of our free institutions. . I am 
proud that he was an American citizen, and a 
citizen of our own beautiful prairie State. His 
pure, exalted and unselfish life will help teach 
the world the great lesson that the basis, the 
indispensable basis, of all true greatness is 
integrity of character, and that "The onl}^ 
way to be happy in this life is to make others 
so." A -statesman, yet one of the people, 
Lincoln seized the helm of State at the darkest 
hour that this nation ever saw, and left it in 
the dawn of a resplendent glory to lie down 
weary and broken beneath a monument of 
public gratitude, the greatest and most en- 
during that marks the grave of mortal man 
to-day. 

M}^ friends, this is not the time- for any ex- 
tended remarks. I have said more than I 
intended, and possibly more than the occasion 
would justify. I accept this flag, with all its 



A///. .'f, 

hallowed memories and associations, in the 
same generous and patriotic spirit in which it 
is presented, and hope it may be the means of 
guiding the footsteps of many toward this 
sacred shrine, where they will, I trust, receive 
new inspiration — an inspiration of patriotic 
devotion to duty that will lead them to do and 
to die, if need be, for the eternal right. We 
trust, also, that our friend and comrade, Mr. 
Oldroyd, will care for this priceless heritage 
in the future in the same faithful manner 
that he has in the past. 



nnHAT flag is the emblem of a supreme will of a 
^ Nation's power. Beneath its folds the weakest 
must be protected ami the strongest must obey. It 
shields and canopies alike the loftiest mansion and 
the rudest hut. The flag was given to the air in the 
Revolution's darkest days. It represents the sufferings 
of the past, the glories yet to be, and like the banner 
of Heaven, it is the child of the Storm Sun. 

Robert G. Ingersoll. 



THE yETERANS AT LINCOLN'S HOMESTEAD. 



KATE BROWNLEE SHERWOOD. 



\/^fKINKLED and bronzed, the l)attle heroes stood. 
There erst, retreating through the open door. 
The sad apostle of high ])rotherhood 

Paced anguished hours across the humble door ; 
^Vith mighty prophecies absorbed, o'er wrought 
A\'ith deep forebodings and o'er mastering thought, 
(The pangs of mounting from the conunon clod. 
To kingship, priesthood, fellowship with God.) 
O heroes, brothers, in the same high cause 
Of liolier living and of godlier laws I 
The form is vanished and the footsteps still. 
But from the silence Lincoln's answers thrill: 
"Peace, freedom, love!" In all the worlds best needs. 
The master stands transfigured in his deeds. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




000 214 641 1 9 



